Director, Strategy & Operations

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Position Title: Director, Strategy & Operations

Reporting To: Managing Trustee

Duty Station: Nairobi, Kenya, with regular coordination across counties and occasional regional and international travel as required.

Position Type: Full-Time Fixed-Term Contract (Renewable subject to performance, organizational needs, and funding availability)

Contract Duration: Initial 12-month contract, renewable based on performance, organizational priorities, and funding availability.

Organizational Background

This Ability Trust is a women-led organization advancing disability-inclusive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), gender justice, community systems strengthening, technology-enabled programming, and evidence-driven advocacy in Kenya and across the region.

The organization’s integrated programming includes:

• Mama Siri — a leadership, employment, referral, and community care ecosystem led by women with disabilities, providing frontline SRHR, SGBV, mental health, and community support services while strengthening disability-inclusive care systems.
• SKILLS — an e-learning and institutional capacity strengthening platform supporting healthcare providers, civil society actors, media, communities, and women with disabilities through disability-inclusive SRHR training, learning, and systems strengthening.
• Hesabika — a citizen-generated data and digital engagement platform supporting disability registration, community insights, targeted information dissemination, rapid surveys, and community-level evidence generation.
• Citizen Observatory AI — an emerging data analytics and decision-support ecosystem integrating community-generated data, service trends, referral pathways, and localized insights to strengthen responsive programming, advocacy, and public sector decision-making.
• PAZA — advocacy and systems change programming leveraging community evidence, policy engagement, research, and Disability Status Reports (DSRs) to influence county-level planning, budgeting, accountability, and disability-inclusive governance systems.

As the organization grows in complexity, scale, partnerships, visibility, and institutional ambition, This Ability seeks to strengthen its internal operational architecture, execution systems, reporting structures, organizational coordination, and institutional leadership capacity.

The Director, Strategy & Operations role is intended to support this transition by strengthening execution discipline, institutional systems, operational leadership, strategic coordination, accountability structures, organizational effectiveness, and cross-functional implementation across the institution.

Position Purpose

The Director, Strategy & Operations will provide strategic and operational leadership to strengthen institutional systems, execution management, organizational coordination, accountability, and operational effectiveness across This Ability’s integrated programming and institutional priorities.

The role bridges strategy and execution by ensuring organizational priorities, donor commitments, operational systems, reporting obligations, partnerships, institutional processes, and cross-functional workflows are effectively coordinated and implemented.

The successful candidate will help strengthen institutional effectiveness by improving operational systems, reducing execution bottlenecks, strengthening reporting discipline, enhancing organizational accountability, supporting institutional growth, and enabling leadership to focus on strategic, external, and ecosystem-level priorities.

This is a senior leadership role requiring exceptional coordination, systems-thinking, execution capacity, operational leadership, institutional maturity, and the ability to operate effectively within a fast-evolving rights-based, data-driven, and innovation-oriented organization.

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategic Coordination & Execution Management

• Support translation of organizational strategy into operational execution plans, institutional priorities, and measurable deliverables.
• Coordinate implementation of organizational strategic objectives, annual workplans, donor commitments, institutional initiatives, and cross-functional deliverables.
• Establish systems for tracking deliverables, timelines, dependencies, operational risks, and institutional accountability.
• Ensure effective follow-through on leadership decisions, organizational priorities, and agreed action points.
• Coordinate strategic planning processes, quarterly reviews, institutional reporting cycles, and implementation tracking frameworks.
• Identify operational bottlenecks and recommend systems-based solutions to improve organizational efficiency and execution.
• Support institutional readiness for growth, scaling, partnerships, systems strengthening, and regional expansion.

2. Organizational Operations & Systems Strengthening

• Lead strengthening of organizational systems, workflows, operational structures, and coordination mechanisms.
• Develop and oversee centralized organizational reporting calendars and institutional tracking systems.
• Establish standard operating procedures (SOPs), workflow systems, operational protocols, reporting templates, and implementation structures.
• Improve internal coordination, communication, and information flow across programs, departments, consultants, and leadership structures.
• Support development of organizational dashboards, performance monitoring systems, operational trackers, and institutional knowledge systems.
• Strengthen organizational responsiveness, accountability, execution discipline, and operational culture.
• Coordinate systems for approvals, planning, reporting, implementation tracking, documentation, and organizational follow-up.

3. Reporting Oversight, Institutional Accountability & Performance Management

• Coordinate timely submission of donor, technical, operational, governance, programmatic, and institutional reports.
• Strengthen quality assurance systems across organizational reporting and institutional outputs.
• Work closely with programs, MEL, ICT, communications, advocacy, operations, and finance teams to synthesize organizational data and strategic outputs.
• Monitor compliance with reporting timelines, grant obligations, operational commitments, and institutional deliverables.
• Develop and oversee organizational accountability systems, implementation trackers, and performance monitoring frameworks.
• Support development and implementation of KPIs, departmental scorecards, and institutional performance review systems.
• Coordinate quarterly organizational performance review processes and implementation assessments.
• Flag delays, risks, operational gaps, or underperformance and support timely corrective action.

4. Leadership Support & Institutional Management

• Provide high-level strategic and operational support to the Managing Trustee.
• Support prioritization, scheduling, coordination, and management of strategic organizational matters.
• Prepare briefing notes, presentations, strategic memos, summaries, talking points, and institutional coordination documents.
• Coordinate management meetings, leadership follow-ups, internal reviews, and action tracking processes.
• Facilitate coordination between leadership, staff, consultants, donors, partners, government actors, and external stakeholders.
• Support institutional decision-making through synthesis, analysis, and interpretation of organizational information.
• Support organizational restructuring, governance transitions, institutional strengthening, and operational evolution processes where required.

5. Team Coordination, Organizational Culture & Institutional Effectiveness

• Support coordination and performance management across multidisciplinary and decentralized teams.
• Strengthen organizational accountability culture, execution discipline, responsiveness, and professional standards.
• Support development of collaborative, inclusive, and high-performing institutional culture.
• Identify institutional capacity gaps and support development of targeted organizational strengthening interventions.
• Contribute to strengthening internal communication, workflow coordination, implementation alignment, and operational cohesion.
• Support managers in strengthening implementation tracking, reporting systems, accountability, and departmental coordination.

6. Grants, Partnerships & Institutional Growth

• Support coordination of grants, donor deliverables, institutional partnerships, and strategic collaborations.
• Assist with development of donor reports, institutional briefs, presentations, partnership materials, and strategic updates.
• Coordinate cross-functional implementation tracking linked to grants and partnerships.
• Support institutional growth planning, operational scaling, and systems strengthening initiatives.
• Assist in coordination with county governments, national institutions, multilateral agencies, donors, philanthropic actors, academic institutions, and strategic partners.
• Support institutional positioning, visibility, strategic engagement, and organizational growth opportunities.

7. Data Systems, Digital Coordination & Institutional Innovation

• Support coordination of organizational data systems, digital infrastructure, reporting ecosystems, and technology-enabled workflows.
• Contribute to operational alignment across Mama Siri, SKILLS, Hesabika, Citizen Observatory AI, PAZA, and Disability Status Report (DSR) processes.
• Support operational coordination of citizen-generated data systems, digital infrastructure, organizational analytics, and emerging AI-enabled decision-support ecosystems linked to programming, advocacy, DSRs, and public sector engagement.
• Work closely with ICT and MEL teams to strengthen data governance, reporting systems, analytics coordination, institutional learning, and knowledge management systems.
• Promote ethical data governance, safeguarding, confidentiality, and responsible management of institutional and community-generated data.
• Support organizational adaptation to emerging digital systems, innovation opportunities, and evolving institutional technologies.

Required Qualifications & Experience

• Master’s degree in Public Policy, Development Studies, Business Administration, Organizational Leadership, International Development, Public Health, Social Sciences, Law, Gender Studies, Governance, Nonprofit Management, Data Governance, Technology for Development, or another relevant field from a reputable institution is required.
• Minimum 7–10 years of progressively responsible professional experience in strategy, operations, organizational development, institutional management, program leadership, systems coordination, nonprofit leadership, consulting, public systems, or related sectors.
• Demonstrated experience supporting senior leadership and managing complex organizational operations within dynamic, multi-program, and fast-evolving environments.
• Proven experience managing high-performing multidisciplinary teams, including oversight of cross-functional staff, consultants, technical specialists, and decentralized or community-based teams.
• Strong grant management and donor compliance experience, including coordination of donor reporting, implementation tracking, deliverables management, partnership coordination, and institutional accountability requirements.
• Demonstrated experience supporting organizations during periods of institutional growth, transition, restructuring, operational scaling, or systems strengthening.
• Strong understanding of nonprofit systems, governance structures, donor ecosystems, organizational management, institutional accountability, and operational leadership.
• Exceptional analytical, writing, synthesis, facilitation, coordination, and communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate multiple strategic priorities, timelines, departments, and stakeholders simultaneously while maintaining high standards of execution and follow-through.
• Strong organizational systems-thinking capacity, with demonstrated ability to establish workflows, accountability systems, reporting structures, operational processes, and institutional coordination mechanisms.
• Experience developing dashboards, reporting trackers, performance systems, operational tools, or institutional workflow systems is highly desirable.
• Familiarity with AI-enabled systems, digital platforms, citizen-generated data ecosystems, data governance, technology-enabled programming, or digital coordination systems is strongly desirable.
• Experience working with disability inclusion, SRHR, safeguarding, governance, advocacy, public systems, community-based programming, or rights-based programming is highly desirable.
• Experience engaging with county governments, national institutions, donors, multilateral agencies, philanthropic actors, research institutions, or regional partnerships is an added advantage.
• High level of professional discretion, judgment, emotional intelligence, adaptability, confidentiality, and political awareness is essential.

Core Competencies

The successful candidate should demonstrate:

• Strategic thinking and execution capacity
• Strong operational leadership
• Exceptional coordination and follow-through
• Systems-thinking and institutional mindset
• Organizational discipline and accountability orientation
• Strong problem-solving and analytical capacity
• Ability to manage complexity and competing priorities
• Excellent interpersonal and stakeholder management skills
• Professional maturity and discretion
• Strong writing and synthesis ability
• Adaptability, resilience, and initiative
• Commitment to inclusive leadership and disability inclusion

Reporting & Performance Indicators

Performance will be assessed based on:

• Timeliness and quality of organizational reporting
• Strengthening of institutional systems and workflows
• Reduction in operational bottlenecks and missed deadlines
• Effectiveness of cross-departmental coordination
• Quality and responsiveness of operational support to leadership
• Strengthening of organizational accountability systems
• Improvement in execution discipline and institutional responsiveness
• Progress on operational strengthening and institutional growth priorities
• Quality of strategic outputs, coordination processes, and institutional deliverables

Ethical Standards, Safeguarding & Confidentiality

The successful candidate will be expected to uphold:

• Organizational safeguarding policies
• Data protection and confidentiality standards
• Ethical management and professional conduct
• Disability inclusion principles
• Respectful and inclusive workplace culture
• Responsible management of institutional and community-generated data

How to Apply

Interested candidates should submit:

• Cover letter
• Detailed CV
• Writing sample
• Names and contacts of three professional referees

Applications should be sent to: board@this-ability.org

Subject Line: Application – Director, Strategy & Operations

Application Deadline: May 30^th 2026

Women with disabilities and candidates with demonstrated commitment to disability inclusion and rights-based programming are strongly encouraged to apply.